RMCtv : Vacancies update : 190 leave each week because...?

[Jahpostie]

My notice is in and I'm leaving soon. I've posted most of these already but here are some common reasons people are leaving from my viewpoint as a 3 year reserve.....

1) Ridiculous outdoor workloads that are only going to get worse with these new revisions. Management/planners Ignoring the fact packet volumes are through the roof.

2) Expectation to complete regardless. Turning duty holders against floaters/reserves when you decide you don't want to complete 2 days of mail thanks!

3) Poor recruitment and greedy Resourcing to bare bones so reserves in particular are shafted daily with double mail due to absence.

4) Extended delivery is not worth the money. Overtime at the end of a hard shift is not worth it for pittance. Proper rates required.

5)Uneven walks. Full timers firing back to the depot at 12 while you are only half way. These revisions aren't changing that!

6) Thrown here there and everywhere like a soiled rag.

7) Harassment when off sick due to physical injury. They'd have you crawl round if you were willing, just to clear the mail.

8) Overtime wrong most weeks to either balance their books or out of spite if I disagree with the DOMs and don't tow the line or claim a break you couldn't take. Know thy place.

9) Holidays always wrong or requests ignored. You have to chase and chase for holidays or 'missed' overtime. It is tiresome.

10) Getting done over by your new daily partner giving you the harder loops while he texts his mates how slow you are

11) Job is engineered so people come in early and work for free and don't take breaks. If you're a reserve it can be hard for some to come in on their time and impossible to take breaks. Most posties are only interested in getting done as quickly as possible. Royal mail play on this and you are robbed of the paid break. Duties are extended because of it. Increasing expectations to complete.

12) Never get 2 consecutive days off to recover from fatigue / minor injuries.

13) Impossible to sleep due to aches and pains and dread of not knowing who you'll be working with and what you're going into the next day.

14) Negates the ability to do any sport due to the job and injury/fatigue.

15) You're just a resource. Management don't care about your wellbeing. All they care about is clearing the office and shafting you out of hard earned overtime.

16) Letters through the post to clear my office! The ultimate insult after working through the pandemic with a brutal workload. It just shows right from the top down they don't have a clue what is going on.

17) Toothless Union. Where are you Terry?

18) Poor pay for a lot of hard work. Job has zero benefits since covid.

19) Office favourites negotiating double time overtime rates whilst others expected to claim extended delivery.

I could go on.

Know your place. It's like a 19th century work house. Do you time and you'll eventually get the shittest duty in the office. Err no thanks. The bullshit about the job being well paid for what it is, is exactly that for a part timer - bullshit. The job is too tiring to do more outdoor overtime. By the time you get home, eat and recover that's an extra couple of hours. Effectively it's a full time job for minimum wage.

[tomtallis]

Testify brother.

[POSTMAN]

I’m sure I read somewhere , that someone had been told there were 400 people wanting to have each one of our jobs , is that the case , or did I imagine it , a bit vague I know but I’m a little surprised given the current level of vacancies that they can’t fill the gap.

No, 400 a week are needed business wide.
Norfolk was wrong in the pissing off thread and I have only just seen it.

Super Simon said in his latest video that the recruitment team is struggling with 400+ per week applications from around the business.
3 times more than the team can handle.

[Racingpostie]

Just lost another new starter here, she’s been with us for 5 months so I thought she was going to stay. Her reasons for leaving: she’s going back to retail as it’s less stressful (!!!), she’s fed up of finding her day off on the Thursday/Friday before, she’s fed up being moved every single day, sometimes moved 3 times in a day. She’s confused about holiday pay (the union really need to start releasing bite size press releases, not endless pages), she’s tired of every single bank holiday being given as her day off. In her words ‘it’s not worth it for just an extra £50 a week.’

If Simon wants genuine answers and really does want to know what’s going on, on the shop floor, he’s going to have to be tough, he’s going to need to talk to those leaving (not their managers, but the actual employee), he’s going to need to start turning up unannounced. Or he can continue to be fed lies from managers.

+1, the £12 an hour is more than reasonable for the work it entails, however for the flexibility needed and lack of work life balance(anything can change day to day including days off etc) it isn't quite as appealing as on paper. The supposed training non existent in most cases it's sink or swim from very early doors. You've really want to be a postie to stick at it early doors imo.

[Dorset Plodder]

Super Simon said in his latest video that the recruitment team is struggling with 400+ per week applications from around the business.
3 times more than the team can handle.

Surely that's an enviable postion to be in... Having TOO MANY Applicants?

If YOUR HR system can't cope ... then sort it bloody out. Once more the Tail is Wagging the Dog in this Business, Nearly a thousand Delivery Offices are suffering because our HR system is crap. Our Business is going down the shitter due to lack of staff.

I'd like to think that the the people that are getting paid so much to sort these problems out are capable of seeing that .... but I'm not holding my breath. If I was CEO I'd be expecting the relevant people to be working 24/7 until they sorted it out!

[mjd24]

My notice is in and I'm leaving soon. I've posted most of these already but here are some common reasons people are leaving from my viewpoint as a 3 year reserve.....

1) Ridiculous outdoor workloads that are only going to get worse with these new revisions. Management/planners Ignoring the fact packet volumes are through the roof.

2) Expectation to complete regardless. Turning duty holders against floaters/reserves when you decide you don't want to complete 2 days of mail thanks!

3) Poor recruitment and greedy Resourcing to bare bones so reserves in particular are shafted daily with double mail due to absence.

4) Extended delivery is not worth the money. Overtime at the end of a hard shift is not worth it for pittance. Proper rates required.

5)Uneven walks. Full timers firing back to the depot at 12 while you are only half way. These revisions aren't changing that!

4) Thrown here there and everywhere like a soiled rag.

5) Harassment when off sick due to physical injury. They'd have you crawl round if you were willing, just to clear the mail.

6) Overtime wrong most weeks to either balance their books or out of spite if I disagree with the DOMs and don't tow the line or claim a break you couldn't take. Know thy place.

7) Holidays always wrong or requests ignored. You have to chase and chase for holidays or 'missed' overtime. It is tiresome.

8) Getting done over by your new daily partner giving you the harder loops while he texts his mates how slow you are

9) Job is engineered so people come in early and work for free and don't take breaks. If you're a reserve it can be hard for some to come in on their time and impossible to take breaks. Most posties are only interested in getting done as quickly as possible. Royal mail play on this and you are robbed of the paid break. Duties are extended because of it. Increasing expectations to complete.

10) Never get 2 consecutive days off to recover from fatigue / minor injuries.

11) Impossible to sleep due to aches and pains and dread of not knowing who you'll be working with and what you're going into the next day.

12) Negates the ability to do any sport due to the job and injury/fatigue.

13) You're just a resource. Management don't care about your wellbeing. All they care about is clearing the office and shafting you out of hard earned overtime.

14) Letters through the post to clear my office! The ultimate insult after working through the pandemic with a brutal workload. It just shows right from the top down they don't have a clue what is going on.

15) Toothless Union. Where are you Terry?

16) Poor pay for a lot of hard work. Job has zero benefits since covid.

17) Office favourites negotiating double time overtime rates whilst others expected to claim extended delivery.

I could go on.

Know your place. It's like a 19th century work house. Do you time and you'll eventually get the shittest duty in the office. Err no thanks. The bullshit about the job being well paid for what it is, is exactly that for a part timer - bullshit. The job is too tiring to do more outdoor overtime. By the time you get home, eat and recover that's an extra couple of hours. Effectively it's a full time job for minimum wage.

Brilliant post. Simon really needs to see this.

[fb1969]

Super Simon said in his latest video that the recruitment team is struggling with 400+ per week applications from around the business.
3 times more than the team can handle.

We get at least 3 times the number of large parcel we can handle in the time. I hope everyone in HR got a letter from Super Si telling them to do more work.

[twoloops]

Yep Jahpostie nailed it there, a lot of our new starters struggle with the cheap not fit for purpose shoes RM supply

[blacov]

Yep Jahpostie nailed it there, a lot of our new starters struggle with the cheap not fit for purpose shoes RM supply

If I did not pay out of my pocket for a proper footwear I'd be off sick in a week or two. Shoes must be light, grippy, breathable and comfortable. RM issued trainers/boots do not meet a single criteria.

[Dorset Plodder]

Yep Jahpostie nailed it there, a lot of our new starters struggle with the cheap not fit for purpose shoes RM supply

I don't know why some Posties have so much trouble with RM footwear? Some are better than others and you can normally find a pair that agree with you. Years ago I used to buy my own footwear but just got fed up with paying out .... gave the issued stuff a go and now I let RM replace them. I now use the Magnum Bandera Trainers.

IMO a lot of Youngsters find anything apart from a pair of Nike Air Max (laces undone and stuffed down the side) Too Heavy

I must confess to having spend my early youth wearing Doc Martin boots and most of my 20s & 30s wearing Military Boots, so I was used to "Heavier" footwear..

[masterblaster]

90% of applicants for postie vacancies in our unit apparently turned the job down because the idiots in the office responsible for advertising the posts, didn't state where the posts would be, (just listed the county town), and applicants didn't know they would have a 60 mile round trip each day!

[cometflyer]

Best and most accurate Post ive seen in a long time ,Absolutely spot on
Sorry youre leaving
You are doing your body a favour in the long term
GOOD LUCK!!

[Murdoch]

Over the last couple of years it has been embarrasing how new starts have been treated. It was bad pre-pandemic, the stupid contracts that don't match the hours worked being the single biggest problem. However, if you liked the job, you could overlook how dysfunctional the company is, and the incompetent management, and get some enjoyment in the job, at least once you were out the door (that's if you were willing to battle for a better contract and actually wanted to work FT). Nowadays, for most new starts,they must think they've walked into a total s**t-show, and they'd be right.

What's more concerning, is that "retained" staff, those with years of experience, that used to like the job. They're also leaving in their droves... they're making the calculation in their head, that it's not worth the hassle any longer, and there are much better options out there.

A lot of them were waiting to see if things would get better post-pandemic. And they've gotten worse, with standards dropping accross the board. The incompetent managers with piss-poor training, are currently looking like deer in the headlights.

The biggest issue, which I called out repeatedly. Was that while every single one of our competitors, saw the direction of travel and hired a bunch of extra staff, for the Covid boom. Royal Mail decided to have an idiotic recruitment ban, they didn't fill vacancies for months and months, while the rate at which people retired or left, grew hugely, mostly due to the shitty working conditions due to the understaffing / workloads.

So, we're now entering our busy period with many offices missing key members of staff, being full of vacancies, and there's no way we can get people in the door, and trained up quickly enough to handle it. So,the already beleaguered staff, that are burnt out after a couple years of this, will be pressured into doing more, which will force even more of them out the door.

[Jahpostie]

You're right. There is absolutely no enjoyment or positives to the job anymore. Hence why I'm leaving.

[nightcrawler]

Look at why folk are leaving, maybe plug that gap and the rest will sort itself out.
I had a choice and left without a job to go to. Im much better off not working for the utterly shoddy hide bound clusterfuck that is RM.
And NOTHING will change because all that ever happens is the new brooms only ever fiddle about the edges of the problems. And i'll give you a clue, the problem ISNT your rank and file workforce, who have worked above and beyond throughout the pandemic and every Christmas, it's the expectation that they will pull you out of the s**t whilst they are left neck deep in the same.

Pulling utter dick moves like promoting or moving the few mismanagement B&H offenders that don't weasel their way out of trouble via the wholly inadequate B&H process only goes to deepen the rift and mistrust between your postmen and women and management.

A pox upon your house

I’ll be in the same boat soon - leaving with no job to go to. I’ve had enough now, and want to go before Christmas, most likely in October/November. I plan on taking some time off to unwind, de-stress, and just get Royal Mail out of my system! Then in the new year start looking for a new job.